University of Iowa faculty member Antonio Damasio, one of the world's leading
neuroscientists, will read from his latest book, "Looking for Spinoza:
Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain," at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18 in the
Prairie Lights bookstore at 15 S. Dubuque St. in downtown Iowa City. The free
reading will be broadcast on the "Live from Prairie Lights" series
hosted by Julie Englander on UI radio station WSUI, AM 910.

"Looking for Spinoza" is the third in Damasio's trilogy of books
on the neurological mechanisms of consciousness, emotion and reason. Building
on the insights of his "Descartes' Error" and "The Feeling of
What Happens," Damasio demonstrates how joy and sorrow are cornerstones
of human experience and accomplishment.

Damasio argues that internal regulatory processes not only preserve the life
of human organisms, but also create, motivate and shape mankind's greatest
cultural accomplishments.

Discarding Cartesian dualism, Spinoza not only unified the mind and body but
also grasped the role of emotions in human survival and culture. In Damasio's
view, Spinoza's insights in the 17th century prefigured modern neuroscience.

Oliver Sacks wrote of "Looking for Spinoza," "This is the boldest,
the most satisfying, and the most personal of Antonio Damasio's books, presenting
dazzling insights into the nature of emotion and feeling."

Damasio is professor and head of the UI neurology department where he studies
the fundamental mechanisms of cognition and cognitive and behavioral disturbances
caused by diseases of central nervous systems

Damasio was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 1999
and has been the recipient of numerous honors worldwide.